Pinch Method Ceramics

While holding the sphere of clay press the thumb into the center of the ball half way to the bottom.

Pinch method ceramics.

Pinching ceramics is usually the first thing taught in a beginning pottery class because it requires very few tools and is a great way to get familiar with the properties of clay and the process of making ceramics. In this era egyptians employed the pinching method to create remarkably thin walled vessels and representational figures out of hollowed out pieces of brownish red clay also known as terracotta. The pinching method is to create pottery that can be ornamental or functional and has been widely employed across culture. Begin a pinch pot by forming a lump of clay into a smooth sphere that fits the size of the hand.

The pinching technique is easy enough for even young children to learn. Created from a single lump of clay pinch pots are often the first forms created when beginning to work in clay. These pots are made by literally pinching the clay into the shape you desire no other tools are necessary. A more recently made better version of this video can be found here in this playlist.

This video is showing the beginning process of making a form with pinch pottery technique. You pinch and again the clay responds. Simple clay vessels such as bowls and cups of various sizes can be formed and shaped by hand using a methodical pinching process in which the clay walls are thinned by pinching them with thumb and forefinger. The most common handbuilding techniques are pinch pottery coil building and slab building.

But that doesn t mean you can t make sophisticated pottery forms with the pinch pot technique. You can learn a huge amount simply through the experience of directly modifying the clay s form. That s what gives it proof that it was made by a human. You push and the clay responds.

This method is similar to the way the native americans shaped clay into useful pots.